So, the goose, that makes sense. Gold comes out of the back end without having gone into the front, so you assume the presence of either an internal reservoir or an organ that generates gold, and either way, you want to take a look. Fine. Metaphor for greed; you're giving up something great in hopes of something greater, and you get your fingers burned.

But the wyvern? The wyvern doesn't have anything interesting inside of it. It just goes somewhere and comes back with something. Killing it doesn't have any possible benefit. How does the fable work in that case?

These are religious people. A wyvern that fetches a golden rabbit is unavoidably seen as a gift from God....or Shan-Wei. Golden rabbits are not natural after all. A wyvern that fetches one must be a supernatural agent. Assuming it serves the Dark and then killing it may be the right thing to do or it may be an act of sacrilege. I am sure there is a story about someone misled by evil to defile a gift from God because of some inner character flaw.

Sounds like a teaching moment by the command crew using an Earth parable back before they left Safehold.

PeterZ wrote:These are religious people. A wyvern that fetches a golden rabbit is unavoidably seen as a gift from God....or Shan-Wei. Golden rabbits are not natural after all. A wyvern that fetches one must be a supernatural agent. Assuming it serves the Dark and then killing it may be the right thing to do or it may be an act of sacrilege. I am sure there is a story about someone misled by evil to defile a gift from God because of some inner character flaw.

Sounds like a teaching moment by the command crew using an Earth parable back before they left Safehold.

The fable is obviously still about the foolishness of unconsidered action. Maybe the wyvern was exceptionally annoying and the owner lashed out, or they were temporarily imprisoned somewhere and the owner ate it far too early, or ...